*A one shot hypothetical meeting between Arche and her mother long after the events in 'The One Who Stayed: Volume II'
Lyrica Tyranis, the former Madam Furt, stood in front of the auction block. The crowd of people watching was significant in number, but the total number of buyers out on that warm summer day was very few. Most of those gathered simply enjoyed the chance to get a look at naked flesh, enjoying a little fun cat calling at the people being sold or otherwise making asses of themselves. But Lyrica Tyranis, hooded and clothed in the simple clothing of a lower class merchant, said nothing.
Instead she searched the faces and bodies of those being sold to see some hint that they were the people she knew. Her children. 'Ureirika, Kuuderika… if you're here… I'll spend everything I've saved to buy you back!' Lyrica Tyranis promised herself that at every auction where the prepublished descriptions of merchandise promised girls with blonde hair.
She waited through the half elves, the dark elves, the men, the old women, the children who couldn't possibly be her own… and finally the young blonde women were presented last.
Lyrica clasped her hood with her hands to disguise her shaking and pulled it tight to hide her tears. 'Thirteen years… thirteen long, fruitless years… How have they suffered in all this time…? Are they even still alive? They were such delicate little things…' Lyrica violently wiped at her eyes with the back of her right hand to clear away the tears that threatened to blur her vision.
In all that time, her desperation had not eased even slightly. Now it was getting worse. What remained of the Baharuth Empire was banning the slave trade and as she heard it, creating a buyback system that would end all forced labor within seven years. 'How will I find them then?!' She asked herself, though she hated this method, it was the only viable option other than asking in every town she traveled to, "Have you seen…" and doing her best to guess what they looked like now. 'They might not even be together anymore…' That was almost worse.
Up on the platform a young prostitute was being sold, as promised, blonde hair, but the face wasn't right, the nose was wrong, though pity gnawed at Lyrica's heart for whatever had led the woman there, she was not the one the former Madam Furt sought.
'What do I do… What do I do… What do I 'do'?!' She asked herself on a loop.
"Going once! Going twice! Sold to the man with the cane and white beard!" The chubby auctioneer said, and the young woman was led off of the stage.
"That's the last of them for today! Have a fine evening folks!" He said and hopped down from the tall wooden platform to saunter away.
Lyrica ignored the groaning and grumbling of the losers, she ignored the occasional bump of somebody against her shoulder and she ignored for as long as she could, the grumbling in her stomach.
'How long since I've been here?' She looked around the public streets of Arwintar, the city hadn't changed much, though it was somewhat poorer than she remembered. 'Thirteen years of buying and selling to make a decent profit, saving up and keeping coins coming into my pocket, I never dreamed I'd see so much of our empire… or why.' She thought and without thinking, drifted toward one of the outdoor food venues that prepared quick meals for passersby.
The growling of her stomach asserted itself when she drew closer, and to that impulse, she let herself give in. A fat man with a large black apron around himself and a thick black beard under a bald skull stood in front of a trio of large hot pots into which he was adding ingredients. Behind him on a small table there sat a cask of cheap ale. In the past, the former Madam Furt would have passed that by with a snort of contempt.
But the peasant merchant that killed her former husband and fled with what she could to establish herself and search for the daughters he sold… The woman, 'Lyrica Tyranis', wasn't going to pass up a hot bargain meal.
All she could do was hope her daughters were safe, 'Perhaps Arche found them, perhaps they're living happily somewhere…' It was a hopeless daydream. But one that she indulged in more than once.
Lyrica sat down and slid five copper coins across the smooth grey stone counter. Then froze solid.
On the wall near where she sat was a paper with two very familiar faces. Though the paper was relatively cheap yellow stuff, painted in the center were two twin girls. Blonde hair, blue eyes, delicate features. The picture showed them at a bit of a distance, so they were obviously young adults.
By itself, that might have been nothing remarkable, more 'haunting' or even 'heartbreaking', but Lyrica could read...
"Our finest ally sends two of his most trusted aids to advance the magical arts… Kuuderika and Ureirika Tian…"
Lyrica mouthed the words and dashed her eyes to the cook, she thrust her hand out and pointed to the paper on the wall, "What's this?!" She asked, he looked at her, dumbfounded.
"Sa'news script. They started put'n em out this year, what with all the new literate folk, people find out whats goin on this way better'n from the criers. Those guys gotta go sometimes, pee, sleep, eat, whatnot, but the paper it sits there sayin that thing all day long. Kinda smart… but no real use to me… just make one ah these, copy it by magic a few thousand times an hang it in public popular places." He shrugged, indifferent to his illiteracy, but smiled a little when he emphasized 'popular' about his establishment.
"No! Who are they!" Lyrica half shrieked.
"Where you been?" He frowned at her when she thrust her other hand out and grabbed his apron, leaning over the counter to try to pull him toward her while she pointed at the picture of the two young women. 'Tian… the name is wrong… but still perhaps they married…?'
"Them? Them's Kuuderika and Ureirika, they were here about two months ago… prolly should put up another news script now that you mention it…" The burly man disengaged himself from her and crossed his arms, but Lyrica was no longer listening.
She let him remove her hand, and instead glued her eyes to the rest of the paper. Lyrica read on, 'Kuuderika and Ureirika Tian… magic research treaty… from the Sorcerous Kingdom… Department of Magic Defense, and Department of Magic Research… younger sisters of the Dean of the SK Magic University…' Lyrica had to admit, even if they weren't her daughters, the bio given in brief to show how important the visitors were was an impressive one.
However, the truly important thing was the truth, 'They're alive! They're all alive! They're healthy! They're safe! They're… everything they should be! I have to go to them!'
She wolfed down the bowl of shredded meat and vegetables and guzzled her cup of ale when it hit her. 'Do I, though?' Lyrica asked herself.
'The whole point was to save them from whatever terrible fate their stupid vile father… and I… sent them to. Now I know they're well, happy, healthy… adults, they don't need anything from me. But still, I'm their mother… at the very least I can tell them I'm sorry…'
That was understanding enough, she looked up from her empty cup and bowl, "You want another, you gotta pay." The cook said to her and she blushed, realizing how long she must have been just sitting there frozen like she was waiting for a second helping.
"I'm finished, thank you, it was delicious!" She licked her lips to show she enjoyed it and the briefly souring face turned more cheerful.
"Then come again some time." He waved and she rushed off without a backward glance.
...Three months later…
Lyrica Tyranis stood at the entrance to a massive building of brick and stone shaped like a giant horseshoe with several smaller outlying buildings around it. The great double door was of heavy wood and carved with unfamiliar magical designs and symbols. The former noblewoman was alone, the hour was far, far too early. At her back the sun had not yet even fully risen, it was the false dawn when light only just began to kiss the world again. A soft breeze blew lightly on her cloak and carried it toward the door as if the elements themselves were urging her forward.
Her hand touched the door, it opened when she pulled, then, in she went. The hall was lit by white glowing stones and directly in front of her off to the right sat a black slate with various information written on it.
'Dean's Office, top floor… Arche… Tian.' Lyrica recognized the last name from the news script she read months earlier. Seeing it again, 'A husband? An adoptive father…? So many questions…' Lyrica wondered and walked the empty halls on her own, her shoes made a loud slapping noise over the stone when they struck that made it sound like she was deep within a cave.
She recalled her youth when she loved being out on her own, pretending to be a great adventurer, exploring safe caves, safe protected woods and pretending to seek great treasures, heroism and fame. The giddy feelings of safe fears that pounded in her youthful chest before the cloak of noble duty and marriage was draped over her and smothered her early dreams.
But this was not safe fear.
'There is a very real possibility she'll not want to see me, that she'll reject me, that she won't have anything to say or want anything to do with me… and I face that three times over.' Lyrica remained well aware of that with every step as she found and ascended the stairs leading to the uppermost floor.
The hall was decorated with many fine paintings, none of which Lyrica recognized, though she knew the names of some of the artists from her time as a noble. Vibrant colors and vivid landscapes were the norm, though every now and then a heroic figure's stern face seemed to glower down at anyone who passed beneath their gaze along the way up the stairs.
Finally she was there, on the top floor, she opened the door and found that 'room one' was in fact the only obvious room on that floor.
Behind her the sun had begun to shine through, and warmed her back ever so slightly before she opened the door and found herself in a sizable waiting area. A secretary sat at a smooth brown wooden desk with a cup of tea at her right hand and a surprised look on her face.
An elf, the ears twitched noticeably when she saw the unexpected visitor.
"You're here this early?!" She half exclaimed in a lyrical voice, "Miss Tian isn't expecting anyone for hours."
"She was probably never expecting me." Lyrica Tyranis replied, "I honestly didn't expect anyone to be here at this hour, but since she is, and since I am… tell her I'm here."
"Who is 'I'?" The elf said, suddenly tense, her hand moved under the desk, Lyrica raised her hands up to chest height with her palms out and fingers vertical.
"Cerba, is someone here?" A voice came from within the closed door of a nearby office past the secretary desk.
The secretary looked from the closed door toward Lyrica and back again, and Lyrica began to weep.
The secretary relaxed.
"T-Tell her… tell her the worst mother in the world has come to beg her forgiveness… if she tells me to go away… I-I'll go. I'll leave my hotel and room number for her to give to her sisters… if- if nobody will see me… I promise I'll disappear and never bother them again… all I ask is a chance to beg. Please… tell her that." Lyrica lowered her hands and hung her head.
The secretary stood up very slowly and looked at the older human woman much closer.
"W-Wait here…" The elf ordered and approached the closed door.
Lyrica couldn't hear word for word, muffled as it was, but she caught the gist and a moment later the door opened.
"Go on in." The secretary said and stepped aside.
Lyrica rushed within, flying through the door and closing it behind her.
Countless hours, countless days and nights the former noblewoman of the Furt family dreamt of the day she would see even one of her children again. How they would fall into one another's arms, how they would embrace, how she would kiss her children's foreheads and cheeks, ease their wounds and have happy lives as a family again.
But that didn't happen.
Lyrica Tyranis entered the room, closed the door, and saw the severe and hardened face of her now taller adult daughter.
Arche sat behind her large oak desk, bookshelves at her back, paper and quill in front of her, hands folded together with fingers interlocked on top of whatever she'd been writing.
Her eyes were hardened and face stern, she made no move to rise to greet her mother, nor did she make any attempt to speak.
Lyrica opened and closed her mouth several times, but no words came out.
"So? Get on with it, I have things to do." Arche said without hostility, or care at all.
"R-Right…" Lyrica said, and lowered herself to the floor, first to her knees and then pressing her forehead to the ground.
"I'm sorry! I'm sorry! I'm so sorry! I didn't know what he'd done! I swear I didn't know what your father did with your sisters! I searched! After I killed him and burned down the house, I searched! I went all over the empire at least a dozen times over the last thirteen years! I searched through slave market after slave market! I talked to other merchants, I talked to other adventurers and workers… but you'd all disappeared…"
"So, how did you find me?" Arche asked her mother, looking the broken hearted woman over, in some ways it seemed her mother was more fit than before, not less. 'She wasn't lying about travel at least.' Arche admitted to herself.
"A news script, a few months ago, your sisters' visit, it had a short biography about you all, once here?" Lyrica kept her head down despite the urge to raise it, "It was easy."
"I suppose it is easier to find prominent public figures when you know who and where they are…" Arche sighed, "Look… you, why are you here? Is it money or something?"
Lyrica flinched, "No! No! I came because you're my daughters! Because I wanted to beg forgiveness for how I failed you! To say I was sorry for the way things happened! For what your father did! To tell you I didn't know until it was too late…"
"And… and I wanted to know that you were all well, happy… healthy... safe…" Lyrica added.
"Oh." Arche said with a shrug. "Okay. We are. You can go now, if that's everything."
"So… you forgive me?" Lyrica slowly raised her head, but did not see forgiveness in the bright blue that looked back at her.
"Honestly I thought you were dead. I never went back after what happened, by the time I heard about the fire a few years passed and I never cared to find out more. I did figure you'd probably done it, you or one of the servants who took care of them." Arche emphasized the last, but quickly calmed.
"There was no reason to look into it any further, my sisters have been safe ever since and life has been good. I married a good man, a man like no other in all the world, and my sisters took his name. They have my gifts, and they were raised with us. Nobody ever hurt them." Arche went on to explain the test, the way they lived and grew, the learning under the most potent tutors until they were ready for real work.
"...After that they put their magic to the test, they became adventurers, working with a paladin archer and a talented former bandit. They became the adamantite ranked team, 'Broken Mirror' and accomplished a great deal before they settled down into more peaceful tasks."
"I-I see." Lyrica answered.
"I'm glad to know you have good lives, that all my terrible nightmares- that none of those came true… can I… can I ask again for your forgiveness… for theirs?" Lyrica pled from down on the floor.
Arche shrugged. "You can ask. The answer is a very loud no, but you can ask."
"Please… please forgive me… I changed… I spent the last thirteen years of my life trying to find you all… I tried… doesn't that count for something, doesn't me being your mother earn me a little bit… even if I was the worst… I was just-" Lyrica begged until Arche slapped her desk.
"Shut up." Arche hissed.
"Too little, too late. I believe that you're telling the truth, that you changed, that you worked all this time to be different and save us… but you had that chance and threw it away over thirteen years ago. I believe you're genuinely sorry, but I don't forgive you. I don't owe you my forgiveness, and the fact that you're our birth mother makes things worse, not better." Arche scolded the older woman, who though she rose to her knees, continued to bow her head.
"Do you think- I can get to know you… all of you? I know how I hurt you but… I want to start over. I want to try again… we're family… blood… I was wrong… but I want to make it right…" Lyrica whimpered her plea, but saw no warmth in the flint face behind the desk.
"No, we're not. You gave birth to us, but that's all. Choices have consequences, Madam Furt. This is yours, I don't care about you, I don't forgive you, I don't want anything to do with you. That's my right. I don't owe you my company, a place in my life, a place at my table, I don't owe you anything. I paid those dues a long time ago, and I'm not paying anymore."
"But… I love you… I did my best… I avenged you, I killed my husband for what he did…" Lyrica said as if she were offering a tribute.
"Thanks, but no thanks. You can't make things right, you can't get rid of the scars, and I simply don't have a reason to talk to you. You came, you made your apology, and I don't forgive you. You can live with what you've done, I don't owe you some kind of closure, and I don't care about your own sob story. You said what you had to say, and you can go now." Arche pointed to the door, and Lyrica slowly stood up.
"But… what about Ureirika and Kuuderika… shouldn't they at least get the choice for themselves… let them decide, let me at least 'offer' my apology, you don't owe it to me… but for their sakes. Let them decide." Lyrica asked, shaking on the floor as tears and choked sobs from the last thirteen years ran down her simple green traveler's dress.
Arche gave a reluctant nod. "Fine, leave your address with my secretary, I'll tell my sisters where you are, stay there for one month. If they choose to see you, they can make that decision for themselves. But the choice is theirs. I won't take you to them, I won't ask them to go, if they choose not to see you when that time runs out, go away, and never bother us again. Understood? That's the deal, take it or leave it but I swear by my magic I will have you locked up for the rest of your damn life if you look for us when we don't want to see you.
"Doesn't it matter that I mean it..?" Lyrica asked.
"Not. Even. A little. Now get out." Arche answered, and the former Madam Furt stood up, walked out of the room, a teary eyed face turned toward her oldest child, watching the woman return to writing as if her long lost mother had not just walked through the door. The absolute indifference Arche felt toward her, burned Lyrica's heart to ashes all over again.
But she did as her child said, leaving the name of her hotel and the room in which she was staying, with the secretary at the desk. The elven woman took it down with a very calm, cold expression, and Lyrica Tyranis walked out the way she'd come and back to her hotel.
It was, for her, a long, intolerable month with the last words of her daughter, "Too little, too late." among others, lingering in her mind.
Lyrica waited, and waited, and waited… day slipping into day, praying to gods she no longer believed in, for a second chance she knew she didn't deserve.
The month came and went, and the second chance never came.
She stopped at the front desk and held out an envelope, a young man sat behind it who was young enough to have been her grandson, with a sharp dressed black jacket and pants and a thin brown mustache. "Please… if someone, anyone ever comes looking for Lyrica Tyranis or… or Madam Furt… just keep that for them, have it given to whomever asks…"
"Yes ma'am… when should we expect them?" He asked in the cracked voice of a boy not yet come to manhood.
"Never… but I can hope, I think." She said with a cracked, broken smile when he took it and slid it into a message slot.
With that, Lyrica Tyranis walked out into the morning sun alone, to what end, she didn't know. She turned her eyes toward the university where her eldest daughter worked, and then in the direction of the capital where her younger twins were probably busy about their day already, and pride filled her for both. But with it, a heartache, and a longing for an absolution that would never be hers.
Bearing that weight with her, she walked on.